Liverpool’s former prolific striker John Aldridge reckons Jurgen Klopp must do anything to get Adam Lallana back in the midfield three, and we wholeheartedly agree with him.
Klopp’s decided to accommodate for Sadio Mane’s AFCON absence by deploying Lallana further forward, but it hasn’t worked.
Since the turn of the calendar year, we’ve lost to Southampton and Swansea and drawn with Plymouth, Manchester United and Sunderland.
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In the central three, Gini Wijnaldum and Emre Can have both been starting, but the German has been especially poor and needs some time on the bench to get his head right.
Lallana was scoring and assisting for fun in central midfield, and Aldridge reckons we should turn to youth to cover the right-wing spot.
He even suggests the possibility of Trent Alexander-Arnold being pushed further forward…
Here’s what Aldridge had to say in his column for the Echo:
It’s this simple, for me. Adam Lallana needs to be playing in midfield, as the most advanced of the three, on that left-hand side. You think back to when we were putting four, five and six past teams, and he was in that central midfield role.
We had him, Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane in some brilliant form. We need to replicate that but there’s just one problem – and he’s over playing in the Africa Cup of Nations.
With no Mane, it’s an issue. Divock Origi’s confidence is so low and he’s playing so poorly, it’s ridiculous. Can Daniel Sturridge play there? We just don’t know. He popped up there against Swansea but he was coming too deep.
Then you look at what’s in reserve. Harry Wilson and Sheyi Ojo both featured against Plymouth, but here’s one for you – what about Trent Alexander-Arnold?
The lad is quick, has played in midfield at youth level and we need someone there with pace to stretch teams like Mane does. We aren’t gifted with natural pace in the side and that’s what is costing us.
It’s not ideal, but why not throw Trent in there until Mane comes back?